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ST. ANDREW

Copyrighted.

OUR UNION JACK.

ROM the earliest records we read of such national emblems as banners and ensigns, and all through Holy Writ we have an ever-recurring allusion to them. Inthe early centuries when the Church and not the State was supreme, we find the cross a prominent figure, and recognized as the highest symbol of dignity and honor. The red cross of St. George of Cappadocia —-the redresser of wrongs, the protector of women, the model of Christian chivalry—is still the visible sign to us of all that his glorious name would suggest where- ever floats the British flag. And, quartered on many a diocesan coat of arms, especially the Church’s own, is this flag of St. George, under whose blood red sign the army of the living God goes forth under bishops and clergy to slay that great dragon Sin, and strong in his might to conquer the world for Christ.

Church of Christ! upon thy banner

Lo! His passion’s awful sign ;

By that seal of His redemption

Thou art His and He is thine. Alleluia.

Until the year 1606 the red cross was the flag of England, and its subsequent position on the Jack indi-

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cates the predominant share the English nation bore in creation of the Union, and the powerful position it now holds in its Councils. It was under this flag England defeated the Armada and became proud mistress of the sea.

To-day her merchant navy of forty thousand ships is manned by ten times that number of sailors, and she possesses half the carrying power of the world. Her Union Jack which now floats over more than three hundred million people ‘comes to us as the record of the growth of a great Christian nation, and traces through centuries of adventure and progress the gradual development by the British people of constitutional government over a world-wide empire.’

Three years after the union of the two Kingdoms, i. e., in 1606, a new ensign was used by order of James I in which the cross of St. George was blended with the white diagonal cross, on a blue ground, of St. Andrew, patron saint of Scotland. As first in the Union it occupies the place of honor in the upper quartering nearest the staff. These two crosses combined, formed what is known as the First Union Jack.

With the union of Ireland and Great Britain on January 1, 1801, came the finaf addition to our national flag. This was accomplished by blending with the former designs, the red diagonal cross upon a white ground, popularly known as the cross of St. Patrick,

and thus forming the Meteor Flag of England. In its invincible red, white and blue, we learn how these sister nations are united by courage to build their realm on the sure foundation of purity and truth. As Cana- dians, and ‘ cftizens of no mean country in the Greater Britain’ we share in the glorious achievements of the Union Jack. ‘Wecome of a race that never counted the number of its friends nor the number of its foes when freedom, loyalty, or God was concerned. This is our flag, symbolizing the highest thoughts that have descended from heaven to earth. Ourstoo is the Queen whose virtues transmute the sacred principles of loyalty into a pe. sonal affection.’ Ours too, be the daily prayer, God bless our Church, our Queen and Empire, and keep us loyal.

CLEMENTINE FESSENDEN.